According to a study for the University of Illinois, a powerful cancer-fighting agent found in broccoli, called sulforaphane, can be released by bacteria in the lower intestine and absorbed into the body.

The finding presents the possibility that scientists may be able to increase broccoli’s cancer-fighting power, and enhance the activity of the bacteria in the colon.

What is even more powerful, is that even though many people overcook the broccoli and destroy the enzyme responsible for emitting sulforaphane, the bacteria in our intestine can still recover some of this cancer-preventive agent.

The scientists involved in the study injected glucoraphanin, sulforaphane’s parent compound, into the lower gut of rats. They found that sulforaphane is present in the mesenteric vein, which runs from the gut to the river, and then is converted, in the lower intestine for the body to absorb.

Eating three to five servings of broccoli a week is enough to have an anti-cancer effect. Sulforaphane also has anti-inflammatory effects, which counter many diseases associated with obesity and aging.